Introduction

Hello, I'm quiet a new player to LoL and after watching quiet a few videos on YouTube and playing with some of the Free rotation champions I quickly found I liked soloing top. After browsing countless guides on mobafire I decided to give Nidalee a try and found I loved her. After my summoner level finally reached 20 i put my effort into finding, what was in my opinion, the most effective rune, mastery, item setup for Nidalee. This guide is to show you what I have found and for you to give me new ideas to try. Anything i find thanks to your comments and constructive criticism will be entered with a mention of who gave me the idea.

Please be aware this is my choice on how to play nidalee, if you disagree with things then feel free to state why but each to their own play style. Also take into account that I'm still not playing ranked matches and this is a build generated from draft games.

Nidalee's Sustain

Nidalee is the most sustainable mana user in the game in my opinion. Each of the following will be explained in more detail later on in the guide.

Clarity The majority of players will tell you that this is a waste as it is 'useless' at late game, i disagee completely. Nidalee is an early-mid game champion who evolves to more of a support/poker to the late game. Clarity gives Nidalee a huge ammount of early game sustain thanks to her Primal Surge. Greater Seal of Replenishment will give nidalee a steady income of mana along with her passive mp/5 and Doran's Ring.

Ganking as solo top?

Due to Nidalee's great early game damage and great sustain, she gets quiet a bit of free time to either farm or assist other lanes, here are a few examples of what you can do whilst you opposing champion is away.
- Go and help mid lane, if you teams champion is dont doing quiet as well as you'd of hoped or you just want a bit of extra money go and help them. Javelin Toss and Pounce give some great ganking prospects along with the bonus movement speed from just coming out of the bush.
- Annoy the enemy jungler by stealing one of their camps, which becomes very easy once you have your Lich Bane or even go and kill them.

Tower Pushing

AP nidalee and AP champions in general are notorious for being 'poor' tower pushers. This is a lie in the case of nidalee, once she has her Lich bane. The effect of this will deal bonus damage to turrets and inhibitors and can surprise enemy champions with a 400 damage hit off you to destroy the turret they're camping under follow'd by a swift panther form burst.
This along with her attack speed buff from Primal Surge gives nidalee a unique ability to push towers extremely quickly.

Summoner Spells

MUST HAVE!
The next one I usually pick out of Ignite, Flash, Ghost and Teleport and
this general depends upon my the team comps, who I'll be facing, and how I feel like playing.

Items - Quick and simple

Now for the interesting section. Most champions have a list of 'gets' and a list of 'don't gets'. I prefer to think of nidalee as a champion who can pick up anything and use it to her advantage. These are the items I use and the order in which I get them, I'll also add some other items you may consider.

now for the choice, do you want Void Staff or Rylai's Crystal Scepter??
well to be honist it all depends on the team comp and how much magic resitance the opponents are getting...
on the one hand Void Staff is a huge damage boost and is about 1k gold cheaper than Rylai's Crystal Scepter however this gives bonus health and a slow effect based on magic damage (which alot of nidalee's is). It also depends on if your good at pre-trapping targets to get the -40% magic resistance debuff.
I tend to get both starting with Void Staff.

Of cause there are many other options for nidalee as shes so adaptable but i feel these give a great balance to her damage and sustain.

Masteries - fairly obvious

Masteries

4/1

4/5

1/1

3/5

4/1

4/

1/5

3/5

3/1

3/5

Not much room to play here in my opinion.

Skill Order - a little different from the meta

Ability Sequence

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

my reasons behind this are simple, the other champion in your lane will not be able to kill you before lvl 3 (shouldn't kill you at all) and they cant gank you due to your increased movement speed in bushes.This is due to almost no one getting boots first in meta especially junglers.

Early game tips (1-6)

- Keep farm up
- Poke often without risking being oom
- Don't attempt kills unless its a gank until level 6
- Keep traps up in place of wards and keep an eye on the map where they are

Mid Game Tips (lvl 6-15)

- start harassing other lanes in your quiet times
- gank often and effectively
- steal enemy camps and buffs

Late game tips (lvl 15-18) and/or teamfights at lower levels

Don't charge in like a maniac, nidalee is extremely squishy and will get torn apart. Stand back and throw javelins and traps whilst giving your team the occasional heal. Try to cover an exit of the fight scene that leads to the jungle so if an enemy flashes away you can quickly catch them with all your bushy speed.
This doesnt mean you should ignore cat form, If you are oom and clarity is on cooldown then try to target out-lying members of the enemy team (most likely the ap and ad carries) and do some damage then get out of there.

Thanks :D

Thanks for taking the time to read my guide, i hope it helped alot. Any ideas anyone has post in the comments and I will check frequently and update with anything i find helpful and give a mention to you.
Have fun with Nidalee and may you get all the "SCOOP SHOT!"s you deserve. (Shout out to Hengest from TGN for the inspiration to start playing Nidalee and LoL in general).

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!